A local men’s volleyball team whose former and current players are under suspicion of rigging matches will not play the rest of the current season and have their games forfeited, officials said Saturday.

The Korean Volleyball Federation, which runs the V-League, convened an emergency meeting of teams’ general managers in Seoul Saturday over the fate of Sangmu, the military team for conscripted players, in the widening match-fixing scandal.

Five active and former V-League players have been arrested for allegedly making mistakes on purpose in exchange for cash from gambling brokers. Three of the arrested players are believed to have tried to fix matches while playing for Sangmu in recent seasons.

All healthy South Korean men must serve around two years in the armed forces. Professional volleyball and football players can continue their career by joining Sangmu squads, which compete in the top-division with other pro clubs.

With more current and former Sangmu players coming under match-fixing suspicions, the federation decided to keep the team out for the remainder of the season, officials said.

Park Sang-seol, the federation’s secretary general, said Sangmu’s remaining 10 matches will all count as losses. The team is ranked dead last among seven V-League teams in the men’s division with three wins and 23 losses.

Park said the federation will cooperate with military investigators and will try to retain Sangmu in the V-League for future seasons.

Park also apologized to fans.

“As soon as prosecutors finish their investigations, we will hand out stern punishments,” Park told reporters. “We will also prepare measures to prevent the recurrence of similar cases.” 

(Yonhap News)